Bagpipes



G. A. WRIGHT Nov. 4, 1969 BAGPIPES Filed April 23 1968 .W/m: jwz p amw Zea and! C '06? aim/n4 United States Patent U.S. Cl. 84--375 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A set of bagpipes mainly for practice purposes including a windbag, a chanter and blowstick connected to said windbag, and a drone simulating reed housed in said windbag through which reed air to the chanter has to pass. The drone simulating reed may be mounted in a chamber forming an air conduit leading to said chanter, the reed for which may also be in said chamber or in a second chamber series coupled to a first chamber embodying the drone simulating reed.

This invention relates to bagpipes. In the construction of toy or miniature bagpipes it is an object to reproduce as far as possible the appearance of and at reduced volume the sound produced by a full size set of bagpipes. It has been found that by merely scaling down the size of a full set of bagpipes difficulties arise, for example a scaled down reed does not operate satisfactorily and another known type of reed which would be satisfactory so far as size is concerned uses too much air so that it is not practicable for the player, especially a child, to produce enough air for both the chanter and drones to function. The present invention seeks to solve this problem.

According to the present invention there is provided a set of bagpipes including a chanter, the air supply to which has to pass through a drone simulating reed located in the windbag of the pipes. The drone simulating reed may consist of a piece of thin resilient sheet material placed over an aperture at the inlet to a chamber enclosing at least one chanter reed, or alternatively the drone simulating reed may be placed over an aperture to a second chamber which is in communication with the second tube forming a chamber enclosing a chanter reed said communication being by means of a length of tubing of smaller diameter than the first tube. The drone simulating reed may be of a plastics material although it is preferably brass and the aperture which is preferably rectangular may be formed in a brass disc.

The invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a part cross section through one form of a set of bagpipes according to the invention showing the chanter and the bag;

FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of the arrow A in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows a cross section of a modified form of chanter to that shown in FIG. 1.

In the form shown a chanter 2 has a staple 4 to which are secured two chanter reeds 6, a collar 8 is secured to the upper end of the chanter 2 and is a force fit in one end of a length of tubing 10 of plastics material which forms the chanter stock and surrounds the chanter reeds 6. The other end of the tube 10 is closed by a cork 12 through which extends one end of a further length of tubing 14 of smaller diameter than the tube 10, the other end of which extends through another cork 16 closing ofi one end of another length of tubing 20 of about the same diameter as the tube 10. The other end of the tube 20 is closed by a brass disc 22 in which is formed a rectangular slot 24 and a further reed 26 of thin sheet brass similar 3,476,006 Patented Nov. 4, 1969 to that used in the construction of a harmonica is secured inside the length of tubing 20 under the slot 24 by a pin 28. This reed 26 simulates a drone reed. A blowstick 30 passes into the bag 32 only a part of which is shown and a set of dummy drones (not shown) are attached to the bag. Although only one drone simulating reed is shown in the above described embodiment two or more drone simulating reeds can be provided as required but such reeds should be all on one plate 22.

In use the player blows air into the bag through the blowstick 30 and the only means of escape for the air in the bag is through the rectangular slot 24, down the pipe 14 and out through the chanter 2. The drone simulating reed 26 is thereby vibrated and produces a sound similar to that produced by the drones in a full sized set of bagpipes but naturally of reduced volume and in spite of the fact that the sound has had to pass through the wall of the bag. The same air then passes through the chanter 2 and vibrates the chanter reeds 6 and the bagpipe chanter is played in the normal manner.

Referring to FIG. 3 it will be seen that the lengths of tubing 14 and 20 are no longer required as the drone simulating reed 26 is now secured in the end of the tube 10 in the same way as it was secured in the tube 20. The instrument is played as described with reference to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 but the volume of sound produced by the modified instrument tends to be greater than that produced by the unmodified instrument for the same blowing effort.

It has been found with the constructions such as are described above only a small amount of effort needs to be expended to provide enough air both to operate the reed and the chanter compared with a construction in which the drones are not dummies but simulate full scale drones.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A set of bagpipes comprising a windbag; a blowstick connected to said windbag for passage of air into said windbag; conduit means having one located within said windbag and another end connected to the outside said windbag for passage of air from said windbag to the ambient atmosphere; 3. drone simulating device located at said one end of the conduit means; a chanter device connected to said other end of the conduit means; and a chanter reed device located in said conduit intermediate of said ends.

2. A set of bagpipes according to claim 1, wherein the drone simulating device is in the form of a valve normally closing the passage of said one end of the conduit means and adapted to be moved from said closing position by the pressure of air.

3. A set of bagpipes according to claim 2 wherein said drone simulating device comprises a thin sheet of resilient material adapted for vibrating during opening and closing movement.

4. A set of bagpipes according to claim 3, wherein said valve comprises a brass disc having an aperture formed therein; said thin sheet of resilient material being biased to close said aperture.

5. A set of bagpipes according to claim 1, wherein said conduit means comprises a number of chambers, a first chamber enclosing the chanter reed device and a second chamber downstream of the drone simulating dev1ce.

6. A set of bagpipes according to claim 1, wherein said conduit means comprises a single piece of piping.

7. A set of bagpipes according to claim 1, wherein said other end of said conduit means is located outside of said windbag.

8. A set of bagpipes according to claim 7, wherein said chanter device is secured to said other end of the conduit means.

9. A set of bagpipes comprising a windbag; a blowstick connected to said windbag for passage of air into said windbag; conduit means having one end located within said windbag and another end located outside said windbag for passage of air from the said windbag to the ambient atmosphere; said conduit means comprising an inner chamber having an inner end and an outer end and an outer chamber having an inner end and an outer end; a pipe connecting said outer end of the inner chamber with said inner end of the outer chamber; a brass disc located at the inner end of the inner chamber; said brass disc having an aperture formed therein; a thin sheet of resilient material biased for closing said aperture; at least one References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1874 Gade 84380 3/1956 Magnus 84--375 10 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner LAWRENCE R. FRANKLIN, Assistant Examiner 

